


Cognitive Dissonance

by xilluminax



Series: Distortion [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Papyrus Knows More Than He Lets On, Papyrus Vaguely Remembers Resets, Papyrus-centric, Previous True-Pacifist Ending Implied, Resets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-23
Updated: 2016-08-23
Packaged: 2018-08-10 15:10:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7849912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xilluminax/pseuds/xilluminax
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Underground should really invest in a train…</p><p>Or a mundane thought leads Papyrus to begin recalling strange memories of events that couldn’t have ever happened in a million years…</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cognitive Dissonance

The Underground should really invest in a train…

The unusual thought drifted to the front of Papyrus’ mind as he waited idly by the frosty riverbank, watching his breath turn to vapor before him. Another three people were also waiting for the Riverperson and had all been there before him, so it seemed he was going to be waiting for a little while longer. He fidgeted on the spot, rocking back and forth on his heels and humming to himself, drowning out the quiet little exchange two of the monsters ahead of him were having.

Ordinarily, he would have been content to just walk to his destination, but given that he was supposed to be meeting Undyne before his sentry shift started, he figured it would probably be best to bypass a good portion of the trek through Waterfall and save himself some time.

Hm, now that he thought about it, it would probably be difficult to build a functioning train and railway line from the limited supplies they had in the Underground and plus where exactly would they build it? Not to mention the fact that it would greatly reduce the Riverperson’s business… Well, he wouldn’t want that to happen, but then, he never really liked the noisy, cramped chaos that was the train ride anyway, too much stimulation for him. So he supposed it was for the best anyway. He always preferred the car to the train-

Papyrus stopped his humming and rocking, a deep frown set on his face. Just where did this _train_ of thought come from anyway? Why on earth was he thinking as though he’d ever even _been_ on a train? Why did the thought of it seem so… ordinary, mundane?

Perhaps the familiarity he felt towards the idea of riding _(driving)_ in a car made more sense. After all, his bed was shaped like one and he often enjoyed skimming through the rare car magazines that ended up in the Underground, so the idea that he might have dreamed of being in one wasn’t too absurd. But how had he made the jump from cars to trains? He knew of them, of course, and was rather fascinated by them, but his knowledge on the subject was very limited and he certainly had never ridden on one to actually _know_ that they were often either cramped, noisy or just plain overstimulating.

And yet, he somehow _did_ know those things…

How…strange.

Papyrus blew out a breath with a muted huff as a feeling of familiarity, of some sort of dulled, misty recollection of a distant memory washed over him. The only problem was that the distant memory was just that; distant, bobbing just below the surface of his consciousness and unwilling to break through.

Papyrus grunted in annoyance. Well, whatever, it couldn’t be _that_ important if he couldn’t even make himself remember it.

And yet, he couldn’t stifle or ignore the uneasiness he felt in his soul.

Whatever this was, it certainly _felt_ important, like there was something vital that he was simply not getting for some reason. Perhaps that was why he could not just let it go now that he’d become aware of it; once he noticed it, it was impossible to _unnotice_ it. It was silly, ridiculous really, most likely he was merely remembering a half-forgotten dream, but… something told him that wasn’t the case.

He coughed and cleared his throat, pulling his scarf up to cover the lower part of his face since he’d been told in the past that he had a tendency to pull faces when he was deep in thought. Why was this bothering him so much? Why couldn’t he just let it go?

His head was beginning to hurt, surely that was enough of a sign that he should stop thinking about it now?

The train. What had the train been like? Furrowing his brow ridge, Papyrus closed his eyes and focused all of his energy on the experience he knew was locked away in his memories somewhere, pushing through the feeling of unease and claustrophobia that crept along his bones the more he thought about it.

He recalled that he had chosen a bad time to make a train trip, there were far too many people and far too much noise for his liking, but unfortunately their new town didn’t have as many shops as the nearby city and the train was the fastest means of getting there. Still, it wasn’t _too_ bad, the carriage wasn’t completely full and he had brought his headphones with him, meaning that he could block out most of the background noise. He found that if he concentrated hard enough, he could almost feel the ground moving backwards beneath his feet, he always did enjoy the feeling of motion on a train, it was why he preferred to stand rather than sit for the whole journey, facing away from the direction he was going. There was something he found calming about it.

Given the choice, however, he would always choose to take the car over the train, even if it did take longer. After all, he preferred to have full control over his journey because, after all, anything could go wrong if he planned to take the train; it could be delayed or cancelled, or worse, he could miss it. If any of that happened, his whole schedule would be messed up. This time, when he concentrated hard enough, he could feel himself making that bumpy ride down the dirtroads, the convertible’s top down, allowing him to feel the wind and sun on his face…

“Tra la la. Care for a ride?” Papyrus found himself startled back to reality by the calm voice of the Riverperson who was now looking directly at him – or so he assumed, he couldn’t really tell though the cloak they obscured themself with.

“Oh!” Papyrus quickly scanned around himself to find that the other monsters must have already been ferried across, leaving only him remaining, “Um, yes, please excuse me!”

The Riverperson made no movement as Papyrus carefully stepped onto the boat, Gold ready in hand. “Where will we go today?”

“To Waterfall, please.”

“Then we’re off…”

Papyrus stared down at the moving waters beneath him, allowing his thoughts to drift along with them. So what had he discovered? – That not only did he somehow have memories of riding in vehicles that didn’t even exist in the Underground, but he had memories of the sun, of a town and a city he’d never been to! Somehow, he’d seen the sky, seen the changes in color that it went through at different times of day! And wasn’t that just amazing?

He found himself suddenly overcome with a strange feeling of melancholy, of a sort of… _nostalgia_ – which of course made no sense, but he was quickly learning to accept that fact. How could he feel nostalgic over something he had never seen? He’d never really believed in the idea of past-life memories, but… that was really the only way he could describe these feelings…

Papyrus thanked the Riverperson as the boat pulled up to the bank and handed him the money. He took a moment to shake the snow off his boots before heading in the direction of Undyne’s house.

Somehow, it felt to him as though he was only just beginning to scratch the surface of whatever was going on here. There was far more to this than just these little fragments of memory, he was _sure_ of it.

Well! It would just be one more puzzle for The Great Papyrus to solve!

But… until then…

Well, maybe he should just keep this knowledge to himself.

Wasn’t like anyone would believe him anyway…

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> My Tumblr: https://xilluminax.tumblr.com


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